Monday, May 8, 2017

Europe Will Cease to Be Christian in 30 Years, Russia in 50, Moscow Patriarchate Official Says

Paul
Goble

Staunton, May 8 – Archpriest Dimitry
Smirnov, head of the Patriarchal Commission on the Family, says that Europe
will cease to be Christian in 30 years and Russia will do the same in 50,
leading to a situation in which Muslims will control both and any remaining Christians
will be forced “to live in a semi-underground manner.”

The hierarch, who until recently
headed the patriarchate’s office for work with the Russian military and
security services and who has often attracted attention for hyperbolic remarks
about the Islam and the West, made these predictions on Soyuz television at the
end of last week (newsru.com/religy/05may2017/eu_islam.html).

The signs of a Muslim take-over are
already clear, the archpriest said. Christians are attacked and raped and can’t
defend themselves because officials aren’t willing to crack down on the Muslim
perpetrators.“This is in Europe” today,
he said, “but we are next in turn” to experience the same thing.

At present, he pointed out, Mohammed
is already the most common name among newborns in the United Kingdom where the
Muslims are having far more children per woman than is any other group.“Thirty years from now, all Europe will be
simply Muslim” and Christians will live “underground.”

In reporting Smirnov’s remarks,
Newsru.com noted that the churchman is infamous for his extreme comments. Not
long ago, for example, he said that “tens of thousands” of young Muslim men
celebrate Islamic holidays, and then asked “Where have you seen so many
Orthodoxy guys? Nowhere and never! Only old women!”

He said young Muslims are prepared
to die for their faith and to fight secular regimes because “they do not want
to live in a place ruled by pederasts … They don’t want to sacrifice their
principles, above all those about the family. And for this they are ready to
die.” Tragically, Smirnov suggested, that isn’t true of those who call
themselves Christians now.